WARSAW (AP) 鈥� A Russian plot to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw was thwarted by before it could be carried out, the Polish prime minister said Thursday, marking the first time in decades that a Western leader has publicly accused Moscow of plotting to kill a U.S. citizen.
Western officials have previously warned that Russia has stepped up a campaign of targeted killings since President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 2022 , saying they have across Europe. But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this incident was unprecedented.
It was the first time that 鈥渟omeone on the order of Russia鈥� sought to attack an American citizen on the territory of another NATO country, said Thursday.
The suspect, who was allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services, was detained by Polish authorities on Aug. 7.
The American Ukrainian citizen 鈥渨as uncomfortable for the Putin regime,鈥� Tusk said in a news conference.
The operation was carried out in cooperation with U.S. services, said Tomasz Siemoniak, Poland鈥檚 minister overseeing intelligence services. He said the targeted victim was a U.S. citizen 鈥渙f Ukrainian origin.鈥� Officials did not immediately provide further details.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Western countries believe Russia seeks to undermine Ukraine’s allies
Russia has long been accused of targeting its enemies abroad, including by using rare poisons. But intelligence officials previously told The Associated Press that Russia鈥檚 security services are now more brazen in their choice of targets, going after and foreign supporters of Ukraine as well as military defectors.
Western officials see the campaign as connected to Russia鈥檚 broader efforts to . The AP has mapped about 200 acts of sabotage, arson and other disruption across Europe since the start of the war that officials have linked to Russia. President Vladimir Putin told AP in May that Russia against Europe.
British authorities accused Russia of being behind the killing of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 with radioactive polonium and of attempting to kill former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018 with the nerve agent Novichok.
German authorities also said Russia organized the 2019 killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen rebel commander who was shot in a Berlin park by Vadim Krasikov, a hitman who was later .
In June, a Russian artist who was critical of Putin was shot and killed at close range near his home in eastern Poland. Robert Kuzovkov, known by the pseudonym Semyon Skrepetsky was critical of Putin and Tusk said at the time that the killing had the hallmarks of a political assassination. He suggested it was possible Russia was behind it but Polish officials have not yet attributed it to Moscow.
Last year French officials which they believe was aimed at killing Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian exile who lives under police protection and works to help military defectors flee Putin鈥檚 war. Lithuanian officials also disrupted a plot last year to kill a Lithuanian supporter of Ukraine and another against a Russian activist. Officials in Germany have similarly broken up two plots: one to target the head of supplying Ukraine, the other against .
Polish authorities arrested a man in 2024 in what they said was . And that same year, a Russian helicopter pilot who defected 鈥� with Russian operatives the prime suspects.
鈥淭his campaign is not by accident or chance,鈥� a senior European intelligence official previously told the AP. 鈥淭here is political authorization.鈥�
___
Burrows reported from London. Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
